Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/279

Rh two, and one shares respectively, according to the order of the castes.

Apastamba differed in this respect from his predecessors, and protested against the unequal division of property, declaring that all sons who were virtuous should inherit, but that he who spent money unrighteously should be disinherited, though he were the eldest son.

The separate property of a wife, that is, her nuptial presents and ornaments, was inherited by her daughters.

Such were the laws of the Philosophic Age. They show unmistakably the vast distance of time between this and the Epic Period, and show also the culture, the training, and the practical method of dealing with intricate subjects which were the peculiar features of this epoch. Criminal offences and civil cases were no longer tried according to the vague and varying opinions and feelings of learned men and priests, but were arranged, condensed, and codified into bodies of laws which learned men were called upon to administer.